Automatic Tracking Image Pickup System

1. An automatic tracking image pickup system, comprising: an image pickup apparatus picking up an image of an object; a driving unit changing an image pickup direction of the image pickup apparatus; a recognition unit recognizing an object to be tracked in a pickup image obtained by the image pickup apparatus; and a controller controlling a speed of the driving unit based on a difference between a position of the object to be tracked in the pickup image and a target position in the pickup image, wherein: the controller controls the speed of the driving unit in an initial mode until the object to be tracked reaches a predetermined position in the pickup image after the recognition unit recognizes the object to be tracked for first time, and in a normal mode after the object to be tracked reaches the predetermined position; and the controller controls the speed of the driving unit so that a gain for obtaining the speed of the driving unit based on the difference in the normal mode becomes larger than a gain used in the initial mode.

2. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 1 , wherein the controller determines the speed of the driving unit so that the speed of the driving unit becomes lower in the initial mode and becomes higher in the normal mode as the difference between the position of the object to be tracked in the pickup image and the target position in the pickup image becomes larger.

3. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 1 , further comprising a target value calculator calculating the target position to be used by the controller, wherein the target value calculator updates the target position during processing in the initial mode and uses the target position, which is preset, during processing in the normal mode.

4. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 3 , wherein the target value calculator calculates the target position during the processing in the initial mode based on a position at which the object to be tracked is recognized in the pickup image for the first time and the target position used during the processing in the normal mode.

5. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 3 , further comprising a moving speed calculator calculating a moving speed of the object to be tracked, wherein the target value calculator calculates the target position based on the moving speed of the object to be tracked, which is calculated by the moving speed calculator.

6. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 1 , wherein: the image pickup apparatus comprises a zoom optical system; and the controller sets a zooming speed to zero in the initial mode and determines the zooming speed so that a size of the object to be tracked in the pickup image becomes constant in the normal mode.

7. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 1 , wherein: the image pickup apparatus comprises a zoom optical system; the controller determines a zooming speed in the initial mode so that a size of the object to be tracked, which is obtained when the object to be tracked is recognized in the pickup image, is maintained; and the controller determines the zooming speed in the normal mode so that a predetermined size of the object to be tracked is maintained in the pickup image.

8. An automatic tracking image pickup system, comprising: an image pickup apparatus picking up an image of an object; a driving unit changing an image pickup direction of the image pickup apparatus; a recognition unit recognizing an object to be tracked in a pickup image obtained by the image pickup apparatus; and a controller controlling a speed of the driving unit based on a difference between a position of the object to be tracked in the pickup image and a target position in the pickup image, wherein: the controller controls the speed of the driving unit in an initial mode until the object to be tracked reaches a predetermined position in the pickup image after the recognition unit recognizes the object to be tracked for first time, and in a normal mode after the object to be tracked reaches the predetermined position; and the controller controls the speed of the driving unit so that the speed of the driving unit when the object to be tracked is at a position in the picked up image in the initial mode becomes lower than the speed of the driving unit when the object to be tracked is at the position in the picked up image in the normal mode.

9. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 8 , wherein the controller controls the speed of the driving unit so that a gain for obtaining the speed of the driving unit based on the difference in the normal mode becomes larger than a gain used in the initial mode.

10. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 8 , wherein the controller determines the speed of the driving unit so that the speed of the driving unit becomes lower in the initial mode and becomes higher in the normal mode as the difference between the position of the object to be tracked in the pickup image and the target position in the pickup image becomes larger.

11. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 8 , further comprising a target value calculator calculating the target position to be used by the controller, wherein: the target value calculator updates the target position during processing in the initial mode and uses the target position, which is preset, during processing in the normal mode.

12. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 11 , wherein the target value calculator calculates the target position during the processing in the initial mode based on a position at which the object to be tracked is recognized in the pickup image for the first time and the target position used during the processing in the normal mode.

13. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 11 , further comprising a moving speed calculator calculating a moving speed of the object to be tracked, wherein the target value calculator calculates the target position based on the moving speed of the object to be tracked, which is calculated by the moving speed calculator.

14. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 8 , wherein: the image pickup apparatus comprises a zoom optical system; the controller sets a zooming speed to zero in the initial mode and determines the zooming speed so that a size of the object to be tracked in the pickup image becomes constant in the normal mode.

15. An automatic tracking image pickup system according to claim 8 , wherein: the image pickup apparatus comprises a zoom optical system; the controller determines a zooming speed in the initial mode so that a size of the object to be tracked, which is obtained when the object to be tracked is recognized in the pickup image, is maintained; and the controller determines the zooming speed in the normal mode so that a predetermined size of the object to be tracked is maintained in the pickup image.

16. An automatic tracking image pickup system, comprising: an image pickup apparatus picking up an image of an object by using a zoom optical system; a driving unit changing a focal length of the zoom optical system to change a size of an image of the object in a pickup image obtained by the image pickup apparatus; a recognition unit recognizing an object to be tracked in the pickup image obtained by the image pickup apparatus; and a controller controlling the zoom optical system based on a difference between a size of the object to be tracked in the pickup image and a target size, wherein: the controller controls a zooming speed of the zoom optical system in an initial mode until the size of the object to be tracked becomes equal to a predetermined size in the pickup image after the recognition unit recognizes the object to be tracked for first time, and in a normal mode after the size of the object to be tracked reaches the predetermined size; and the controller controls the zooming speed by the driving unit so that a gain for obtaining a speed of the driving unit, which is used in the normal mode, based on the difference becomes larger than a gain used in the initial mode.

17. An automatic tracking image pickup system, comprising: an image pickup apparatus picking up an image of an object by using a zoom optical system; a driving unit changing a focal length of the zoom optical system to change a size of an image of the object in a pickup image obtained by the image pickup apparatus; a recognition unit recognizing an object to be tracked in the pickup image obtained by the image pickup apparatus; and a controller controlling the zoom optical system based on a difference between a size of the object to be tracked in the pickup image and a target size, wherein: the controller controls a zooming speed of the zoom optical system in an initial mode until the size of the object to be tracked becomes equal to a predetermined size in the pickup image after the recognition unit recognizes the object to be tracked for first time, and in a normal mode after the size of the object to be tracked reaches the predetermined size; and the controller controls the zooming speed of the driving unit so that the zooming speed of the driving unit when the object to be tracked has a size in the picked up image in the initial mode is lower than the zooming speed of the driving unit when the object to be tracked has the size in the picked up image in the normal mode.